Willis hit Jacoby Ellsbury to lead off the third, then walked a batter before striking out No. 9 hitter George Kottaras. But consecutive walks to Dustin Pedroia, J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis pushed two runs across to cut the Detroit lead to 3-2 and sent Willis off the field early.

Leyland soon joined him after he was ejected by Nelson on his way back to the dugout. Leyland was quick to take the blame for getting tossed.

"When you make a mistake, you've got to admit it. I think I was wrong," Leyland said. "I don't usually think I'm wrong when I get thrown out of a game, but today I was wrong.

"I was totally out of line, and I apologize for that."

Zach Miner came in to pitch for Willis but gave up two hits before getting out of the inning. By that point, Boston had scored all six of its runs.

Tigers' Zach Miner discusses injury, Thursday's loss

The Boston rally came immediately after the Tigers had scored three runs to take a 3-0 lead after two innings.

Cabrera and Curtis Granderson led off the inning with singles, and coaches visited Cabrera at second base after he favored his left leg. Cabrera and Granderson scored on a double by Brandon Inge, but an obviously hurting Cabrera came out of the game at that point.

Inge later scored on a groundout to make it 3-0.

The Tigers had 10 hits in the game on eight singles and two doubles, but they couldn't string hits together at key times.

"We got a few hits, but we didn't do anything with our hits," Leyland said. "We're not swinging the bats good. We threw a few singles in there, but we didn't swing the bats good."

Willis became the first Tigers pitcher to allow five runs without giving up a hit since Sept. 24, 1980, when Mark Fidrych gave up five runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Willis was charged with five runs on five walks and a hit batter while striking out three. He threw 29 balls and 24 strikes. The five walks were a season-high for Willis, and it was his shortest outing of the season.

His earned-run average, 3.27 after two starts, has climbed to 6.84.

"I feel good," Willis said. "I feel very strong. I like the way I'm working. And up until that one inning, I like the way I've been throwing the ball.

"It was just one of those days."

Willis said he appreciated that Leyland stood up for him.

"I saw it, but I was still kind of jumping on myself," he said. "But I appreciate it. He wants to win. I want to win, and he understands that. He continues to believe in me, and he told me that, and that's pretty much it.